The problems with large feeders is larger than thiaminase toxicity. The levels of copper used in goldfish farms is high enough to cause liver diseases in any predators fed a regular diet of these mass-raised goldfish.
Live Fish As Food - Nutritional Value & Concerns
- Thread starter Oddball
- Start date
Oddball, once in a while(depend on how not lazy I am), I buy bait fish minnows from Cabela's to feed my gars. They are fish that Cabela's sell at bait fish so I don't really know whether or not they are wild caught or farmed(the bait sellers probably have a bunch of pond and let them live and breed in there?). But I only get them whenever the Aquarium manager of Cabela's is around because he will get me the fish that he quarantined for feeding those big fish tank in the store. Would these minnows be ok to feed them more often?
thanks for the help, my mollies are just CB dalmation lyretails. I am thinking about breeding convicts, that are surely CB, to feed my wolf since its a natural predation. I would assume they don't have thiamine?
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I routinely feed minnows/shiners that are seined or cage-raised since these baitfish are not medicated to the nth degree. IMO, these have the least risk compared to other large bulk-raised live foods for large predators.
Provided you can justify raising enough to keep your preds well fed, convict fry/adults is a good choice as a feeder species. Convicts are low in fat and don't contain thiaminase. The only downside is that convict fin spines may injure your preds. The younger the fry, the less the risk.
No bait fish contains everything your preds require. It's always a good idea to gut-load your live feeders just prior to feeding them to your preds.
I've often been wondering about live fish feeding. I have an Oscar and I was feeding him Rosy Red Minnows because I figured they would be safe for them because I knew the feeder comets weren't but then he developed hole-in-the-head and it really scared me. I treated him and he's better but I really want to feed him live food because he likes chasing them around he looks bored when I just drop pelleted food in for him. Does anyone have any suggestions? I also have sunnies and they refuse to eat anything but live food and so far I have never had problems with feeding them Rosy Reds. Is there something better I can feed them or do you think they will be ok on the feeders?
thx a ton for these values good guy oddball even tough i wont be having any predatory fish it is good to keep it in mind so i can explain my friends the importance of changing the diet regularly if they want a good and healthy fish.. i will be planning to have small schooling fish such as tetras , tiger barbs , hatchet fish and rasbora i would be very pleased if anyone could tell me what kinds of food i could rotate ?
